Dundurrabin Public School Newsletter Term 3, Week 2, 2025

Principal's Message

Welcome to Term 3!

Dear Students, Parents, and Staff,

As we embark on Term 3, I am excited to welcome you back for another term filled with rich learning opportunities and growth. I hope you all had a restful break and are ready to engage in the innovative and inspiring experiences we have planned.

This term, our focus will be on fostering a love for learning across all subjects and encouraging our students to explore new ideas and concepts. We have a variety of exciting programs and activities lined up, designed to challenge and engage our students in their educational journey.

I encourage everyone to stay connected and involved in our school community. Your support and participation are invaluable in creating a vibrant learning environment. Together, let’s inspire our students to reach their full potential and embrace the challenges ahead.

Here’s to a wonderful Term 3 filled with discovery, growth, and achievement!

Warm regards,

Katrina Sangster

Every Day Matters

Please remember to explain all days your child is away from school. You can do this in person, by phoning the school, or by sending a text to the school mobile at 0411 939 188. Thank you for your cooperation!

What's on for Term 3

• Tuesday 29 July - P&C Special Spaghetti Bolognese Lunch Order Day
• Wednesday 30 July - NAIDOC on the Plateau - Dorrigo High School                                                                                                                                & Gubi Gabun - 10am to 12noon - Dundurrabin PS
• EDUCATION WEEK - "Ignite your Potential"
• Monday 4 August - P&C Meeting - 4pm
• Wednesday 6 August - Kindergarten Transition 1.30pm to 3.15pm
• Thursday 7 August - District Athletics - Urunga Recreational Sports Grounds
• SCIENCE WEEK - "Decoding the Universe - Exploring the Unknown with Natures Hidden Language"
• Tuesday 12 August - Combined Small Schools Science Day - Dundurrabin PS
• Wednesday 13 August - Gubi Gabun Playgroup- 10am to 12noon -Dundurrabin PS
• Friday 15 August - Schools Tree Day
• BOOK WEEK - "Book An Adventure"
• Tuesday 19 August - Book Week Parade "Book An Adventure" - 9.15am
• Wednesday 20 August - Kindergarten Transition 1.30pm to 3.15pm
• Wednesday 27 August - Gubi Gabun Playgroup 10am to 12noon -Dundurrabin PS
• Wednesday 3 September - Kindergarten Transition - 9am to 12noon
• Wednesday 10 September - Gubi Gabun Playgroup - 10am to 12noon -Dundurrabin PS
• Wednesday 17 September - Kindergarten Transition - 11.30am to 3.15pm                                                                                                                                    & K-2 Class - Responsible Pets Visit - 12 noon
• Wednesday 24 September - Gubi Gabun Playgroup - 10am to 12 noon                                                                                                                                           & Term 3 Assembly & Adults V Students Sport Game - 2.00pm
• Thursday 25 September - School Photos

Consent Notes to be Returned

• NAIDOC Day Bus Money - $2.00 per students _- By Tomorrow
• District Athletics Carnival Consent Note

P&C Special Spaghetti Bolognese Lunch Day **Tomorrow**

We will have a special "Spaghetti Bolognese and Cookie" lunch day tomorrow, Tuesday 29 July.  

NAIDOC Day on the Plateau - this Wednesday

All school students on the Plateau will be participating in NAIDOC celebrations at Dorrigo High School this week on Wednesday 30 July. 

The 2025 theme, "The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy," celebrates not only the achievements of the past but the bright future ahead, empowered by the strength of our young leaders, the vision of our communities, and the legacy of our ancestors. 

We will catch the town bus to Dorrigo High School and home from Dorrigo High School in the afternoon. The cost of the bus will be $2.00 per student. There will be no cost for the activities on the day. Mrs Sangster will accompany students on the town bus to and from Dorrigo High School to Tyringham Store.

Students who normally catch Wykes bus will need to catch the High School bus run and return home on the High School bus run. All others students will need to be at Tyringham Store at 7.45am ready to board the town bus and be collected at the Tyringham Store at 3.50pm.

Students will need to wear full school uniform (sport shirt), appropriate footwear, hat and bring water bottles, packed recess and lunch. 

Year 12 will be selling some sweet and savoury treats at lunchtime at the canteen, if students would like to buy  a snack. Cost will vary depending on the item from $1.00 to $4.00.

Year 6 to 7 - Dorrigo High School Transition Information Evening

Year 6 parents, carers and students are invited to attend the Year 6-7 Transition information session and school tour this Thursday 31 July at Dorrigo High School from 5:00 to 6:30pm.

District Athletic Carnival

Congratulations to Bailey who has made it through to the District Athletics Carnival at Urunga Sports and Recreational Grounds on Thursday 7 August, 2025.

Bailey will be competing in the Boys 12 year age 100 metre race, 200 metre race and the 800 metre race.

We wish him the best of luck on the day. 

Small Schools Athletic Carnival

Last Friday, a group of selected students participated in the Small Schools Athletics Carnival held at Bellingen High School. They took part in various events such as sprints, relays, long jump, and shot put, demonstrating their skills and dedication. 

Congratulations to everyone who attended and gave their all! The relay races were thrilling, with students cheering for one another and collaborating as a team. Great job, and keep up the excellent sportspersonship!

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden News

Week 10

This week due to our new solar panels being installed, our planned planting of seeds and seedlings did not go ahead. Instead, everyone perused seed catalogues and prepared a wish list for future plantings.

We harvested eggs, garlic chives, parsley, kale, silverbeet, lettuces, lemons and rhubarb. Many thanks to Laz for a terrific donation of avocados.

This week in the kitchen we started our NAIDOC celebrations, by cooking fish tacos, with some of our amazing Australian fish, both crumbed and battered whiting and sea mullet, on freshly cooked flour tortillas, home made mayonnaise with sunrise lime and desert lime flavours. quick pickled onions, fresh guacamole, cheese and salad toppings from our garden. On the side we had potato wedges with Australian spices, and for dessert we had apple and rhubarb crumble with wattleseed and strawberry gum ice-cream. What a feast!

This week the cooking award goes to Jaxon Bennett for his amazing tortillas, and Carter Freeman for incredible mayonnaise making and lemon juicing. 

Week 1

This week our very small cohort that remained at school were very productive in the garden, harvesting some amazing broccoli, feeding the chooks, preparing a garden bed for planting and planting some broccoli seedlings.

We harvested eggs, womboks, garlic chives, turnip, swedes, broccoli and lemons. Many thanks to Laz for weekly donations of avocados.

In the kitchen we made okonimiyaki pancakes, with all of the usual toppings (sweet soy, kewpie mayo, sweet chilli sauce, seaweed, pickled ginger and toasted sesame seeds. We also par-boiled some baby turnips and swedes, before roasting them with olive oil, garlic and cheese, as well as grilling some fresh broccoli with soy sauce. For dessert we made apple and cinnamon cookies and a fruit platter for dessert. 

No cooking award this week, the four students we had were all absolutely fabulous, well done everyone!

Term 2 Assembly & Sport Afternoon

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Term 2 Assembly at the end of last term. It was great to see our students showcase their achievements and share some wonderful work. Also a big thank you to our school captains, Henry and Bailey, for leading a fantastic end-of-term assembly.

After we held our assembly we had our friendly "Parents vs. Students" mini athletics carnival. It was great to see everyone having so much fun and enjoying some light-hearted competition.

Congratulations to the students who were the winners of this terms sporting event with a score of 80 to 31 - WOW!! We will be eagerly waiting to see if the parents can redeem themselves this term! Thank you to all the parents for your enthusiasm, participation and great sportspersonship.

School Bytes Parent Portal

What is the School Bytes Parent Portal?

The School Bytes Parent Portal offers convenience and flexibility, allowing you to: 

• Make online school payments, including payments for multiple siblings, simultaneously.
• Use a family credit to pay for an activity or school contributions.
• Download payment receipts.
• View all historical payments in one place.
• Complete and submit digital permission notes.
• View the status of all permission notes.
• Request a refund if necessary.

This service can be accessible at your convenience at any time, day or night.

Through the Parent Portal, you can easily download a receipt once a payment has been made and have access to view all historical payments when needed. Online payments are processed in real time and can be viewed by school staff immediately.

While our preference is for payments to be made via the portal, we will still accept payment via cash and cheque.

School Bytes – If you haven’t already done so, please see the Parent Portal information below  to connect to these new features. An email was sent home on Thursday 5 June with the link.

Attendance – The simplest way to explain your child’s absence from school will be through the Parent Portal of School Bytes. Once our SMS has been sent, please respond using either option provided so we can make sure all records are up to date. As always, if you’d like any support with attendance, we’re only a phone call, email or visit away.

An email was sent home previously. Please check your emails and follow the links so that we can get this up and running at Dundurrabin.

Gubi Gabun - This Wednesday 30 July

2026 Kindergarten Transition

Combined Schools Science Day

Dundurrabin PS will be hosting a combined schools Science Day here on Tuesday 12 August (Week 4) next term. A lunch order form will be sent home with your child/ren shortly.

STEM Day in Small Rural Schools is a fun event where four small schools gather for a day of science activities. Students from Kindergarten to Year 6 will explore mini ecosystems, decode animal footprints, and create problem-solving models using 3Dux Design and Makedo. The aim is to spark curiosity and show that science is fun and can lead to exciting careers.

Book Week Parade

We will be holding our Book Week Parade on Tuesday 19 August. This year's Book week theme is "Book an Adventure". The Book Parade will start 9.15am. Parents and friends are invited to attend. This year marks the 80th anniversary of Children's Book Week. The theme encourages children to see reading as a way to explore new worlds and possibilities. 

Year 6 Sydney Excursion

Our Year 6 students have been invited to join with Dorrigo, Hernani and Chandler Public School on an excursion to Sydney from October 20 to October 24, 2025 (Week 2 - Term 4).

The total cost of the excursion will be $650-$700 per student. The school will contribute $100 towards the cost per student as well as the P&C has kindly donated $50.00 per student.

A big thank you to the Dorrigo Rotary Club who has kindly donated $50.00 per student to go towards the excursion, reducing the remaining cost per student to $500.

There will be some fundraising opportunities that can be utilised to help reduce your child's cost.

Parents may wish to pay weekly or fortnight contributions towards the excursion to help mange the expense. The excursion must be paid in full by the the end of this term, Friday 26 September. Only nine weeks to go!

Planning is well underway. More updates when everything is locked in.

Raffle Tickets Available

Year 6 students have been busy organising a raffle to help raise funds to support their Sydney excursion. Some fantastic prizes have been donated by local businesses for the raffle. Among these prizes is a signed Penrith Panthers jersey, along with various vouchers and other exciting items.

So help support our Year 6 students by purchasing some tickets either at the school office or from the local businesses around town. Tickets are $1.00 each and the raffle will be drawn on Friday 5 September.

2025 Learning Contributions - SAKG Fees

Student invoices / Statement of Accounts will be sent home again shortly with your child/ren.  Thank you to our families that have already paid theirs.

Book Club Issue # 5

Book Club Issue#5 brochure has been sent home today. If you wish to place an order from this issue, please have your loop online order completed or your order forms and money (cash) back at school by Friday 8 August.

P&C News and Community News

P&C Meeting - Next Monday 4 August

Our next P&C meeting will be held next Monday 4 August at 4pm. It would be wonderful if we could have as many people as possible attend. This is a great opportunity to find out about and get involved with what is happening within the school. Please come along, share a cuppa and enjoy a relaxed and friendly gathering. We’d love to see more faces for new ideas and support.

Firewood Raffle

Congratulations to Deborah Hobbs who was the winner of our P&C Firewood raffle last term. 

Thank you to everyone who bought tickets and helped support the raffle.